Accentuating the positives

You might have noticed that Ethics Girl finished an indistinguished 12th of 13 at Beverley on Saturday, and you might deduce from that that I didn't find the day enjoyable. However, I'm pleased to relate that it was a day from which I was able to take quite a lot of pleasure - and I can thank our friends at At The Races for a fair bit of this.

As with most Saturdays (particularly at this time of year) my Saturday began with ATR's coverage of Australian racing, which showed the good cards at both Caulfield and Rosehill.

One of the earlier races at the latter track was first on my radar, because The Embassy, part-owned by Ethics Girl's part-owner Lawrence Wadey, was going for a three-timer, and for his first win in town. I'm delighted to say that he did indeed salute the judge, and in a style which suggested that it would not be a total shock were he eventually to become the second member of his immediate family to win the Melbourne Cup (1989 Japan Cup winner Horlicks' son Brew, who triumphed under Kerrin McEvoy in 2000, being the first).

So that was great; and what was good thereafter was that ATR, clearly mindful of
the fact that the racing was very good, kept the programme on the main channel rather than relegate it behind the red button at 6am. Good on 'em. That meant that we were able to see on the main channel Denman (yes, not the steeplechaser) become the first Group One winner for his sire Lonhro, the former Horse of the Year whom I was extremely excited to see in January (and whose photograph heads this chapter). Lonhro, of course, remains the only Australian Horse of the Year to be sired by a previous Horse of the Year (Octagonal - pictured second in this chapter), so you can understand why it was such a special occasion for me to visit Woodlands Stud (in the company of Emma, Joff Dumas, Wendy Cameron and Cameron Plant, and under the guidance of Darley Australia's very nice nominations man Stuart Doughty) on January 13th this year, and to hero-worship these two wonderful stallions - as well as Commands (pictured as the chapter's third illustration) who sired two Stakes winners on Saturday, Canny Lad (the 1990 Golden Slipper winner who is arguably the greatest living male-line descendant of Star Kingdom, and who is pictured as its fourth)
and, to a significantly lesser extent, Manton - on a truly special property. And also why I was so happy to watch Denman win to become Lonhro's first Group One winner. Some of you might already look at it, but I might at this juncture take the opportunity to recommend thoroughbredinternet.com to you - the link is on the side of this blog, and further details of Lonhro et al. will be found on the Grey Panel which will be found this week on the main site, and subsequently in the archives.

Sadly, as we know, Ethics Girl wasn't able to win her race, but that was no disgrace. She got a bit farther back than she should have done, but I don't think that made the difference between victory and defeat, especially as the winner is a very good filly: Eastern Aria, a daughter of Halling who broke the track record in posting her sixth victory of the season and who had previously won well at Glorious Goodwood. Lawrence was at Beverley so that made the day enjoyable, especially as we were able to unite the old team for some brahmaizing with "Jockey John" (Egan, now domiciled back in his native Ireland) having come over for the day for one ride.

So that was straightforward: the filly was a bit disappointing, but she came home unharmed and her unplaced run did nothing to diminish her previous victories. Beverley is a lovely track in great Yorkshire countryside, and the journey was enlivened by our listening to the CDs of Bill Bryson reading his book 'The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid', which Emma had given me for my birthday. And then in the evening we had three Grade One races on ATR from Saratoga. What a great channel! What a good day!